New pictures from the AFP news agency are offering a rare glimpse into life in a Syrian nursing home.
The Dar al-Saada retirement home, which translates as ‘Home of Happiness’, in the Mazzeh district west of Damascus, population 1.7 million, is home to 140 residents and one of the capital’s seven nursing homes.
While Syria’s elderly have traditionally aged at home with their families, many are now crowding into retirement homes after their children were killed or been forced to flee the country during the six-year conflict.
The uncertainty of what has happened to their children is perhaps the greatest distress.
One woman, whose children have all been displaced overseas, says she feels ‘humiliated’ by her solitude: “I didn’t expect to spend the rest of my life looking at photos of my children and lamenting over them.”
The ‘final dream’
The pictures say the home is obviously run with pride.
Residents pay a monthly fee of $120 that covers meals, care and a bed in a room with two other people. Furnishings are scarce – a TV, small table and an electric heater.
One floor is also reserved for people who can’t afford to pay for their accommodation. From one or two requests a month before the civil war began, it now receives daily requests for beds.
General Manager Lamis al-Haffar, herself aged 82, says getting a bed in the home is the ‘final dream’ for many of Syria’s seniors.
“Every time there is a new empty bed I feel sad and happy at the same time. I know someone has died and left us, but I’m happy because that bed will be a refuge for someone in a tough place, who hasn’t found anywhere to sleep,” she says.
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